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Preferences and perceptions about getting support expressed by low-income fathers.
This report examines the perspectives of fathers of low-income
children about their needs and resources for support to help them with
their parenting responsibilities. The data are taken from open-ended,
qualitative
interviews of 575 men as part of a comprehensive study of fathers
related to the Early Head Start
Longitudinal Study
. The interviews,
taken when the father or father figure’s child was 24 months of
age, asked fathers about the barriers they experienced to fathering,
about the sources of support or help they had available, and about
supports they thought might be useful. The transcripts were
analyzed
tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es
1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations.
2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of.
3.
using a constant comparison method to create a coding structure and
coded using
NUD*IST
software. The primary barrier discussed by fathers
was the difficulty of juggling work and other time demands, and their
time for fathering. A number of fathers said there were no barriers and
furthermore said they did not want any help or support. Fathers
described their primary sources of support as their
spouse
A legal marriage partner as defined by state law
or partner,
their own parents (especially their mothers), and their own internal
resources (e.g., motivation, patience). Themes fathers discussed related
to Early Head Start included (a) direct supports to fathers for
parenting or concrete supports (e.g., employment,
social services
Noun, pl
welfare services provided by local authorities or a state agency for people with particular social needs
npl →
); (b)
indirect supports to their child’s mother; and (c) no supports
perceived. Implications for Early Head Start father involvement programs
are discussed.
Keywords: fathers, father involvement, Early Head Start, father
support services
Psychology Non-health care-related ancillary services–eg, transportation, financial aid, support groups, homemaker services, respite services, and other services
**********
Over the past decade there has been an increasing policy emphasis
on encouraging greater involvement of fathers in the lives of their
children, the result of research findings associating father involvement
with positive school outcomes for older children (Fagan & Iglesias,
1999; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994), child support enforcement
provisions in the 1996
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Act (45
302, 2003), and advocacy by fathers themselves for policies that
enable them to have a greater role in their children’s lives
(http://www.promisekeepers.org, 2003; http://www.fatherhood.org, 2003).
Responses to this policy emphasis have led to more services
intended to enhance father involvement with their children. Key among
them has been the emphasis on father involvement in Early Head Start.
While Head Start itself has for many years encouraged father or
father-figure involvement in both the program and in the lives of their
children (Head Start Information and Publication Center, 2001;
Administration for Children, Youth and Families, 2000), Early Head
Start, serving families with children under age three since 1996, has
explicitly emphasized support, goal-setting, and education for fathers
under the umbrella of its two-generation (child and parent) services
(U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services
, 1994; U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, 1996). Targeting fathers follows findings
that more men are involved in young, low-income children’s lives
than previously thought. For example, while only 35% of the infants and
toddlers in the Early Head Start national study lived with a resident
biological father married to the child’s mother, just under 90% had
regular contact with a father or father figure (Administration on
Children and Families, 2002). Early Head Start may also be a logical
program to provide supports to fathers, as recent studies suggest that
fathers are more likely to be present at birth than during any other
period of the child’s life (Mincy & Oliver, 2003). The
Administration on Children, Youth, and Families has responded to these
findings by funding fatherhood support demonstration programs for Early
Head Start (Administration for Children, Youth and Families, 2000).
We are learning something about the range of supports offered to
fathers in Early Head Start programs. For example, Raikes,
Boiler
device for generating steam. It consists of two principal parts: the furnace, which provides heat, usually by burning a fuel, and the boiler proper, a device in which the heat changes water into steam.
,
Vankammen, and Summers (2002) conducted a study of 261 Early Head Start
programs concerning father involvement. Based on program representative
reports, 99% attempted to involve resident biological fathers, 95%
attempted to involve resident non-biological fathers, and 77% offered
program services to
nonresident
adj.
1. Not living in a particular place:
2.
biological fathers. Although father
participation in most programs was low, “a few” fathers were
reported to attend typical program events. The low participation rates
may be explained by the fact that most program representatives rated
their programs as in the “early stages” of father involvement,
with only 28% of the programs considering themselves to be
“mid-stage” or “mature” in their thinking about
father involvement. Indeed, many of the more mature programs did report
higher levels of father involvement.
A key factor related to father participation in Early Head Start
may be the fathers’ perceptions of the meaning of and their need
for support, as well as their understanding of how Early Head Start
might (or might not) meet those needs. A deeper understanding of
fathers’ perceptions about supports may contribute to the
development of supports that best match fathers’ preferences and
attitudes, both about the types of supports they believe they need and
involvement strategies they may find attractive.
Doherty, Kouneski, and Erickson (1998) developed a theoretical
framework that may be useful in understanding how fathers interpret and
utilize supports. Doherty and colleagues present a model of
“responsible fathering,” with the
triadic
n.
1. A group of three.
2. Music A chord of three tones, especially one built on a given root tone plus a major or minor third and a perfect fifth.
3.
relationship of
mother-father-child in the center,
surrounded
tr.v. sur·round·ed, sur·round·ing, sur·rounds
1. To extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle.
2. To enclose or confine on all sides so as to bar escape or outside communication.
n.
by larger contextual
factors in the environment. Based on this model, father involvement is
an interaction of father factors (e.g., role identification, knowledge,
commitment,
psychological well-being
Research A nebulous legislative term intended to ensure that certain categories of lab animals, especially primates, don’t ‘go nuts’ as a result of experimental design or conditions
, relationships with one’s own
father, and so on); co-parental relationships (dual- versus
single-earner family, custodial arrangement, relationship commitment,
cooperation, mutual support, and conflict); mother factors (attitude
toward father, expectations of father, support of father, employment);
and child factors (attitude toward father,
behavioral
difficulties,
temperament
in music, the altering of certain intervals from their acoustically correct values to provide a system of tuning whereby music can move from key to key without unacceptably impure sonorities.
, gender, age, developmental status). Larger contextual
factors
surrounding
tr.v. sur·round·ed, sur·round·ing, sur·rounds
1. To extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle.
2. To enclose or confine on all sides so as to bar escape or outside communication.
n.
this triadic interaction include institutional
practices, employment opportunities, economic factors, race or
ethnicity
Vox populi Racial status–ie, African American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic
resources and challenges, cultural expectations, and social support.
This model is consistent with family systems theory (Whitchurch
& Constantine, 1993), which describes the ways in which
transactional patterns within families lead to family outcomes,
including feedback and control to define boundaries and roles among the
family members. Placing the family system in the center of the familiar
Bronfrenbrenner
ecological
model (1979), the contextual factors
described by Doherty et al. (1998) form the circles of support
surrounding the family. Based on this model, the Early Head Start
program may be theorized as a social support mechanism in the
environment, and more specifically, as a part of the formal support
system as opposed to the informal supports supplied by extended family,
friends, and neighbors (Dunst, Trivette, & Deal, 1994). Such a view
of support is consistent with the purposes of Early Head Start (U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). Social support theory
suggests that access and utilization of formal supports is highly
dependent on family culture as well as on community norms or influences
from the informal support network, which either encourages or frowns
upon accessing formal supports (McGoldrick & Giordano, 1996). The
literature on help-seeking suggests that persons will tend to turn to
informal resources (family and friends) in preference to formal agencies
and that users of formal supports tend to be young, white, educated,
middle-class, and female (Gourash, 1978). Thus, both theory and the
research literature lead us to expect that men from low-income families
will seek support first from family and friends and secondarily from
formal sources such as Early Head Start.
To explore how fathers from families eligible for Early Head Start
perceive supports in general and the usefulness of accessing Early Head
Start in particular, this study presents information from a qualitative
study of fathers of Early Head Start children, conducted when the
children were 24 months old. We analyzed these interviews to shed light
on the following research questions:
* How do fathers define and interpret “supports” and
“support needs” for enhancing their role as fathers?
* What types of informal and formal supports do fathers say they
use to enhance their fathering role?
* What axe fathers’ perceptions about their involvement in
Early Head Start and its value?
METHOD
This research is a part of a group of projects conducted by the
Early Head Start Research Consortium’s Father Studies Work Group.
The Father Studies Work Group is itself an outgrowth of the Early Head
Start Research Consortium’s ongoing studies of low-income families
and children who are participating in a study of the effectiveness of
Early Head Start. Three thousand and one families who had been recruited
by local Early Head Start programs were randomly
assigned
tr.v. as·signed, as·sign·ing, as·signs
1. To set apart for a particular purpose; designate:
2.
to program and
comparison groups, and the Early Head Start Research Consortium
collected a variety of child, program, and family measures. Fourteen of
the 17 Consortium sites elected to participate in a series of studies of
the fathers whose children were the focal children of the larger study.
These sites were located in
Arkansas
, river, c.1,450 mi (2,330 km) long, rising in the Rocky Mts., central Colo.
,
California
, most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W).
Colorado (two sites),
Iowa,
Michigan
, upper midwestern state of the United States. It consists of two peninsulas thrusting into the Great Lakes and has borders with Ohio and Indiana (S), Wisconsin (W), and the Canadian province of Ontario (N,E).
, Missouri,
New York
Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah,
Vermont, and Washington State (two sites). The Father Studies include
fathers from both program and comparison families and involve a range of
measures intended to investigate father characteristics, attitudes, and
father-child interactions. For purposes of this study,
“fathers” were defined as the biological father or other
father figure (e.g.,
stepfather
n.
The husband of one’s mother and not one’s natural father.
Noun
a man who has married one’s mother after the death or divorce of one’s father
Noun 1.
, mother’s relative) whom the mother
identified as most involved in the child’s life and whom the mother
did not
prohibit
tr.v. pro·hib·it·ed, pro·hib·it·ing, pro·hib·its
1. To forbid by authority: See Synonyms at forbid.
2.
the investigators from contacting. Interviews of those
fathers agreeing to participate and videotapes of father-child
interactions are being collected at the child’s age of 24 months,
36 months, and entry into
kindergarten
[Ger.,=garden of children], system of preschool education. Friedrich Froebel designed (1837) the kindergarten to provide an educational situation less formal than that of the elementary school but one in which children’s creative play instincts would be
.
While the overall thrust of the study was
deductive
adj.
1. Of or based on deduction.
2. Involving or using deduction in reasoning.
de·duc
and therefore
quantitative in its
predominant
adj.
1. Having greatest ascendancy, importance, influence, authority, or force. See Synonyms at dominant.
2.
design, the Father Workgroup included an
qualitative study intended to gain more open-ended, exploratory
information about fathers’ perceptions of their roles. Thus the
overall study may be
characterized
tr.v. character·ized, character·iz·ing, character·iz·es
1. To describe the qualities or peculiarities of:
2.
as a mixed design using a concurrent
framework–that is, collection of the qualitative and quantitative data
proceeding simultaneously (Creswell, Clark, Gutmann, & Hanson,
2003). These qualitative interviews are the focus of this report.
SAMPLE
>From the 3001 families across all 17 sites in the Early Head
Start
Longitudinal
adj.
Running in the direction of the long axis of the body or any of its parts.
Research Study, 89% of the mothers identified a
father or father figure who was involved in their child’s life.
Forty-eight percent were resident (i.e., living with the child)
biological fathers; 18% were involved non-resident biological fathers,
and 20% were resident or non-resident father figures. To participate in
the father study, we needed cooperation from the mother to help us
contact her child’s father, and following that, we needed to
contact and gain permission from the father or father figure himself.
Based on these procedures, a total of 769 fathers participated in the 14
father study research sites in the 24-month interviews, which included
both qualitative and quantitative measures. The qualitative portions of
the interview were audiotaped. Accounting for tapes that were inaudible
or
defective
adj. not being capable of fulfilling its function, ranging from a deed of land to a piece of equipment. (See: defect, defective title)
, the total sample size for this
qualitative analysis
was
575 fathers and father figures. Forty-nine percent were from the Early
Head Start group and 51 percent were from the control group. On average,
41 fathers participated in each of the father study sites; the number of
fathers ranged from 9 to 67. Sixty-six percent were resident, biological
fathers; 16% were nonresident, biological fathers; 15% were resident
father figures (such as the mother’s husband or partner or the
child’s grandfather); and 4% were nonresident father figures (with
rounding, the total is greater than 100%). The fathers’
characteristics are summarized in Table 1. Compared with the sample of
non-respondents, more of the fathers who participated in the Father
Study were resident biological fathers, and more were married to their
child’s mother (Cabrera et al., 2004).
INTERVIEW PROTOCOL AND PROCEDURE
The qualitative interview protocol for the 24-month interview
included six primary, or “grand tour” (Miles & Huberman,
1994), items: (1) What does being a “good father” mean to you?
(2) How has becoming a father impacted your life? (3) Talk about your
experiences with your own father. (4) What kinds of help or support do
you get to do your job as a father? (A follow-up probe within this
question asked program fathers their impressions of Early Head Start.)
(5) What gets in the way of being a father? (6) What are you proudest of
about your child? For each of these questions, a series of suggested
probes was developed for use by the interviewers, intended to
elicit
tr.v. e·lic·it·ed, e·lic·it·ing, e·lic·its
1.
a. To bring or draw out (something latent); educe.
b. To arrive at (a truth, for example) by logic.
2.
more elaborative responses to these questions. This study primarily
reports results of responses to research questions four and five,
related to supports and support needs, though some contextual inferences
will be drawn using responses to some of the other questions.
The open-ended interview was interspersed throughout the
quantitative father interview; interviewers had instructions to
tape-record only the qualitative portions as they went through the
overall interview session with the
respondent
. This was the procedure
followed at most sites, although in two sites the local research team
decided to deliver all the qualitative questions at either the beginning
or the end of the quantitative interview because the interviewers were
more comfortable with that procedure.
One or more interviewers participated in the study in each of the
14 Early Head Start Father Study sites. Approximately half of these were
male interviewers. There was a wide range of skill in conducting
qualitative interviews among these interviewers, with some having
extensive backgrounds in
ethnographic
n.
The branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures.
eth·nog
research and/or clinical
interviewing and others having a primary background in
quantitative
research
methodologies. All interviewers were provided with a manual and
a demonstration
videotape
to provide training in techniques of
qualitative interviewing. In addition, three conference calls were held
during the early stages of data collection for the 24-month interview,
intended to provide feedback to the interviewers, facilitate discussion
and peer
debriefing
n.
1. The act or process of debriefing or of being debriefed.
2. The information imparted during the process of being debriefed.
Noun 1.
about early results, and generate additional probes
that might be helpful.
DATA ANALYSIS
Audiotapes of the interviews were transcribed;
Spanish language
member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). The official language of Spain and 19 Latin American nations, Spanish is spoken as a first language by about 330 million persons
interviews were transcribed in both Spanish and their English
translation. Each site received copies of all their transcripts and was
asked to provide an assessment of the accuracy of a randomly selected
set of the transcripts. Two sites (New York and Vermont) conducted
accuracy checks of samples of their transcripts and reported no
substantive corrections of the content of the transcripts as a result of
this accuracy check. This procedure was part of a credibility check,
intended to enhance the
trustworthiness
Ethics A principle in which a person both deserves the trust of others and does not violate that trust
of the study (Anfara, Brown,
& Mangione, 2002).
An initial framework for analysis (Miles & Huberman, 1994) was
developed using the results of a pilot study involving focus groups
conducted in four of the Early Head Start Father Workgroup sites (see
Summers et al., 1999). This initial framework was submitted to the
Father Studies Workgroup and revised with their suggestions for use in
analyzing the 24-month father interviews. This framework formed the
basis for an initial “Index Tree” and coding “nodes”
in the NUD*IST qualitative software program. The senior author and two
research assistants (the analysis team) completed the coding process,
adding new codes as new concepts presented themselves in the
transcripts.
After coding the first 234 transcripts, the senior author and
research assistants transferred the codes and their definitions to index
cards and, as a team, sorted the codes in conceptually logical
categories and sub-categories. This resulted in a revised
analytical
framework and coding structure. Reports of a randomly selected sample of
the codes were pulled from NUD*IST; these reports were reviewed by the
senior member of the team to determine whether the text in that report
had been appropriately coded. Text units on which team members disagreed
were discussed and either retained in that code, with a revision or
clarification of the code, or reassigned to a different code. The
Fathers’ Work Group as a whole also reviewed the revised coding
structure and provided conceptual feedback. In addition, one site
(Michigan) independently coded transcripts from their own site using the
revised structure and reported general agreement with the
appropriateness of the codes.
The remaining transcripts from the 24-month father interviews were
coded using this revised framework. This report presents the data
reflecting a total of all 575 transcripts of the open-ended interviews
from the 24-month data collection.
RESULTS
In the discussion that follows, we present the categories
conceptualized as types of barriers/needs and resources that fathers
identified along with one or more quotations from the
respondents
to
illustrate the concept behind the category. All quotes are
verbatim
adj.
Using exactly the same words; corresponding word for word:
adv.
comments from the respondents, with the exception that in some cases the
interviewer’s question was also included in order to clarify the
context. In those cases, the respondent comment is designated with an
“R” and the interviewer comment designated with an
“I.” In all categories a particular factor was identified by
some respondents as a barrier or need and by others as a resource. For
example, many fathers described job and time demands as a barrier, but a
few described them as a resource (e.g., they had flexible schedules). We
do not report the number or percentages of our total sample that made
particular comments. As an
unstructured interview
, respondents
spontaneously
Medtalk Without treatment
generated these factors, and therefore responses made by
some fathers may simply not have occurred to others; items that were
seldom mentioned may or may not be as important as items that were
mentioned with greater frequency. Also some respondents identified more
than one category or talked about a person or factor as both a resource
and a barrier (e.g., their job, extended family); therefore it would be
meaningless to identify the frequencies with which particular categories
were mentioned. Following principles of mixed design approaches (Morse,
2003), we
adhere to
verb 1. , keep, maintain, respect, observe, be true, fulfil, obey, heed, keep to, abide by, be loyal, mind, be constant, be faithful
2.
the methodological assumptions of our base method
and refrain from “quantitizing” (Teddlie & Tashakkori,
2003, p. 9) the qualitative data.
RESEARCH QUESTION 1: INTERPRETATION OF SUPPORT NEEDS–PRACTICAL
NEEDS AND RESOURCES
The respondents identified tangible or practical barriers or
resources for fathering. These responses usually came from the question,
“Everyone has some little things that get in the way of being a
parent. What are those things for you?”
Time and work. Predictably, fathers identified their work or job
responsibilities, or other issues related to a lack of time, as barriers
to their fathering job. Fathers mentioned long working hours, jobs that
took them away from home for part of the week, or shift work that
required them to be sleeping or to be away from home when the child was
home and awake. Some jobs involving heavy physical labor also drained
fathers’ energy to interact with their children, as in this
example:
My main thing that I feel that gets in the way of me being a better parent is the job that I do. I'm constantly lifting heavy boxes. It's a very active job. There are some times when I come home and I don't want to leave the couch. The kids will come and say. "Dad, let's go out front and play catch." My body is telling me not to move, and my mind starts thinking about how I don't want my son to be mad at me because I don't want to play catch. I'm just so tired.... Sometimes I just kick myself in the butt and tell myself to go out [and play with them] anyway. I'll deal with the sleep later. Sometimes you just can't, though, and your body just wants to relax, and you have to do it. That's my main thing.
Fathers also identified their jobs, or time availability, as a
resource for them in terms of being with their children. Most of these
comments concerned flexible work schedules or employers who were
understanding about a father’s need to take time off if a child is
sick or for other needs.
Money. Fathers in this study mentioned money as a barrier to
fathering. There was a sense that a lack of money was a given, and
therefore some fathers appeared reluctant to speak of money as a
barrier, as in this case: “More money? (Laughs). That’s
everybody’s problem, so that doesn’t count.” Those who
identified money as a barrier spoke of wanting to be able to buy their
children more, as in purchasing special things, or to take them places.
A few respondents spoke of money as a resource. These were fathers who
responded to the question about sources of support or help by describing
some financial benefit or assistance they were receiving. Comments
concerned financial help from family members, such as the father’s
parents or other relatives. The support received was occasional and
often was in the form of food, diapers, or clothes:
I: Do you get any kind of help from people or from different
services that help you?
R: Oh! From like people like family members…. They make sure I
keep on my job, but if I don’t have that, they’ll help me out.
They’ll buy stuff for [child]. Just for no reason my cousin will
come and
knock on
the door, and he’ll have a little
outfit
for
[child].
Child care. Respondents identified a lack of available child care
as a barrier. Comments about child care as a need related to occasional
care when the father wanted to go out either with his child’s
mother or on his own. For example, one father said, “It would be
nice, on our day off, to have someone to count on to watch the kids for
a couple of hours so [wife] and I could have some quiet time. That would
be nice.”
The respondents also identified resources for child care, usually
relative care. However, some identified Early Head Start as a child care
resource, and their comments are discussed in Research Question 3.
My grandmother is the one who picks her up from day-care most of the time because she knows my schedule doesn't allow me to pick her up. It's a huge help to me. My mother will--when she can--take [child] and have her spend the night so I'll have some time to rest. That's a big help.
Parenting information. Fathers specifically mentioned a need for
information or said they had educational resources on parenting. Types
of resources mentioned as potentially useful included parenting classes,
written information, or a number to call (i.e., a “hotline”).
Types of information these fathers thought they could use were
information on how to help a child when she/he is sick, advice on child
development, and guidance on discipline. A typical comment is:
Yeah, I could use help with everything. I could probably use some classes. I don't know what kind of classes are there, but I'd certainly be willing to go to a few to get some pointers on working with kids and how to raise them up as good as you can..... I could use some hints on how to get them to do what you want. How to make discipline more ... of a forethought than an afterthought, if you know what I mean. And I just need help with day-to-day operations.
NO NEEDS, NO RESOURCES
We quickly learned that asking about support needs and barriers was
a difficult question for many fathers. Many fathers initially responded
to the question, “What gets in the way of being the kind of father
you’d like to be?” with at least one statement that there were
no barriers for them, no people who get in their way, no supports
available, and/or no supports needed. As the interviewer probed further,
however, most of these respondents moved beyond this initial reaction
and discussed some barriers or supports related to their fathering role,
such as the problem of juggling work and parenting, as discussed above.
Even after probing, however, some respondents continued to maintain that
they had no supports and/or no barriers at all to fathering.
No barriers. Among the respondents saying there were no barriers at
all to fathering, the exchange was often fairly
brusque
also brusk
adj.
Abrupt and curt in manner or speech; discourteously blunt. See Synonyms at gruff.
[French, lively, fierce, from Italian brusco, coarse, rough
, with a response
such as "nothing really gets in my way," when asked about
"practical, everyday things" that might get in their way of
fathering. Some fathers did respond at greater length, explaining they
had no barriers because they had taken steps in a very pragmatic way to
make sure they could meet their responsibilities. Other fathers saw the
question about addressing barriers as a matter of principle, or the need
to
prioritize
v. pri·or·i·tized, pri·or·i·tiz·ing, pri·or·i·tiz·es Usage Problem
v.tr.
To arrange or deal with in order of importance.
v.intr.
one's children above other things, as in this father:
"(Emphatic) No, no, no. When it comes to a baby, nobody, nobody has
no business letting anything getting in the way when it comes to a baby.
Nobody!"
No people barriers. For those fathers who responded to our question
about barriers by discussing tangible barriers such as time or money,
interviewers followed up with a probe, "Are there any people who
get in your way?" Often the response to this question was a simple
"no," with no elaboration. Other fathers made it clear that
there were no people in their way because they would not allow any such
obstructions, for example: "No. They get in the way; they get
knocked out of the way." As another father put it: "No, I
wouldn't allow anybody to come in here and just ramrod my house.
The way I see it, it's mine and [wife's] house and our
children, and we set oar own rules.”
No resources available. When asked about sources of support or
help, some respondents made statements about having no resources or
help. Some of these respondents also described support received from
their child’s mother or their extended family, thus contradicting
their own statement that they had no help. We interpret this as evidence
that the fathers believed this question was asking about formal services
such as community agencies or assistance programs. A few, however,
maintained that they had no support resources at all.
No resources wanted. Some fathers made it very clear that not only
did they not have formal or community resources or supports, they did
not want any, nor would they access any services or supports if they
were available. Some simply expressed that that they would not access a
formal service program because “there’s something about my
personality that I’m not inclined to seek things like that
out.” Others expressed a strong sense of independence about
parenting, for example:
I: [Do you turn to] any social agencies or anything in the
neighborhood?
R: I don’t ever go to any of that stuff. I’m on my own.
I’ll [take care] of my child on my own. I’d rather do it on my
own instead of letting them people tell me what do with my child. I do
it on my own.
Still other fathers saw parent education as interference in their
families.
A lot of the programs ... try to write a book about it. They say you should do this, and you should do that. As far as I'm concerned that's not right. That's trying to take the parent's role. The parent role should come from what you believe and what you've been taught. It shouldn't come out of some manual. Yon come with your own manual as to how you're supposed to act as a parent, and that's fine.
RESEARCH QUESTION 2: SOURCES OF SUPPORT–INFORMAL RESOURCES
Support from spouse. Fathers identified their wife or partner as a
source of information and support for parenting. For some the acceptance
of support from a spouse was a continuation of the theme of independence
from their family, as they made it clear that their support was from
their wife only (e.g., “I: Whom do you go to when you need help or
support with your fatherhood? R: Between my wife and me only”).
Comments from some men suggest that they found support from their
partners to be acceptable because the interaction with their spouse was
a partnership, where the two were on an equal footing.
In other words
,
they were learning together: “Help and support is my wife; I
couldn’t do it alone. She helps me tremendously…. We learn and
grow together as parents of our children. We learn from each
other.” Other men, however, appeared to look more to their wives
for leadership in learning to parent, as in this example:
My wife's support.... She corrects me. If something is sort of wrong, she tells me "this is wrong," and I think about it, and if it is wrong we fix it. Basically she is the one that helps me with that.
Other informal support. In addition to comments about support from
a spouse, respondents also identified other informal resources for
information on raising their child, including their own mother or
father, other extended family members, and friends. There is a
significant overlap of those who identify their spouse as a support and
those who also identify extended family. A typical response to the
question about sources of support was a list of different people, for
example: “Really all the support I get is from my spouse and from
my parents and her
mom
.”
Fathers seemed to rely in particular on the older generation as a
source of expertise. For example:
If I have problems, I usually ask my dad or my wife's dad what they would do in a situation, or if I have a problem I talk to one of them about it.... They've been there, done that.
The father’s own mother seemed to be a particular resource,
but there were references to a wealth of other relatives and friends,
including uncles and aunts,
grandparents
npl →
grand npl →
grand npl
, and friends. Fathers described
getting help with discipline, as in this example: “My mom will tell
me, “Stay calm. Kids do that. Let him throw his
tantrum
n.
A fit of bad temper.
n a sudden outburst or violent display of rage, frustration, and bad temper, usually occurring in a maladjusted child or immature or disturbed adult.
.” They
give me advice to keep me from … losing it and snatching him or
smacking
adj.
Brisk; vigorous; spanking:
Noun 1. smacking – the act of smacking something; a blow delivered with an open hand
slap, smack
him–stuff like that.” Fathers also received advice about
health issues, some describing mothers or aunts who were nurses, others
explaining that their mother knew what to do because of their
experience. One father, listing his mother, aunt, and grandmother as a
source of information on health care, said, “They give us little
of wisdom here and there.” The terms “tidbits of
wisdom” and “two cents’ worth” were sprinkled
throughout fathers’ discussions of the type of informational advice
they received. Here is an example of a grandmother bringing her wisdom
from “back home”:
I: So
your mom
helps you out a lot?
R: Yes. She tells me what to look for…. My mom tells me little
tidbits of information.
I: Are there any cultural things she tells you like from back home?
R: She has a few of them. She’s quite good with tea leaves.
She grows her own
spearmint
see mint.
spearmint
Aromatic herb (Mentha spicata) of the mint family, the common garden mint widely used for culinary purposes.
and other herbs. She whips up some
home
remedies
that are very effective even for me. She knows what plants are
good for bums, cuts, and scrapes. She’s quite good.
PERSONAL
TRAITS
AND RESOURCES
Fathers responded to the question about sources of support or
barriers with a discussion of their own experiences or personal traits,
including their relationships with their own fathers. In a different
section of the interview, fathers were asked directly about their
experiences with their father as they were growing up. Positive memories
of their fathers included
spending time
with their father or being taken
on special outings, learning important values from their father, and
admiring
v. ad·mired, ad·mir·ing, ad·mires
v.tr.
1. To regard with pleasure, wonder, and approval.
2. To have a high opinion of; esteem or respect.
3.
their father as being a good provider or “staying
around.” Other respondents had negative memories of fathers who
seldom or never spent time with them, were emotionally distant, left the
family through divorce or abandonment, or were
alcoholic
/al·co·hol·ic/ ()
1. pertaining to or containing alcohol.
2. a person suffering from alcoholism.
adj.
1.
and/or violent.
These data provide context for the participants who responded to our
question about available supports or resources by citing their intent
either to follow their fathers’ positive examples or their
determination to avoid repeating their fathers’ mistakes. For
example, one father said:
The things that help me are the great foundation I received from my parents. It's the only thing that helps me; I get no help from outside other than maybe from school. No other help from outside.
An example of a “support” derived from determination to
avoid a parent’s negative example can be found in this comment:
Probably the fact that I didn't have the parent background. I had it, but my biological parents--they didn't do it for me. I said I would never be like them.... [T]hat drives me. I don't want to be like them. As -- gets older I want to be able to go to his ballgame, or see him perform in his first play, or watch him at practice, take him to practice.... Those are the little important things.
In addition to describing their own fathers as role models or
negative examples, other fathers simply described “experience”
as their source of support. For example, some men talked about providing
child care as an older
sibling
/sib·ling/ () any of two or more offspring of the same parents; a brother or sister.
n.
, cousin, or uncle. Some respondents had
older children from a previous relationship, and they either said they
learned how to parent from that experience or were determined to
“be there” for this child in ways they had not been for their
older children. For still others, sources of support were traits or
skills or behaviors they had. For example, some fathers cited patience
as a support–or the lack of patience as a barrier. Other fathers spoke
of their ability to take time to problem-solve or “think things
through” when faced with an issue related to their child.
FORMAL COMMUNITY SERVICES AND SOPPORTS
Specific comments about Early Head Start will be presented under
Research Question 3 below. With regard to other services and supports,
as we noted in the discussion about fathers receiving no services, many
fathers said they either did not know about any resources for fathers in
the community, or did not think such programs–available or not–would
be useful.
Some fathers talked about other formal sources of support they had
received, such as parenting or child development courses they had taken.
A few fathers mentioned that their families received assistance in
programs such as
WIC
or
food stamps
n.
A stamp or coupon, issued by the government to persons with low incomes, that can be redeemed for food at stores.
Noun 1.
. When asked about types of services
that might be helpful, a few fathers talked about park and recreational
services or other places they could take their family. Some fathers
described getting help from religious organizations or leaders; this
seemed to be a combination of both the support of the religious leader
and the support represented by their own religious beliefs. One
father’s comment is an example of the dual source of support
represented by religious participation:
I guess basically I'm getting most of my patience from going to church and reading my Bible. Because there's a lot of laws in there that help.... If I can't figure it out on my own and my wife can't really help me, I would go to my pastor and see if he couldn't help me. He uses counseling--most of them are real peaceful men. There's a few out there that aren't. And they're older and they're wise, so they can give you some advice. Most of them have had children, and they know what kids are going to do.
RESEARCH QUESTION 3: PERCEPTIONS OF EARLY HEAD START
Not all respondents discussed Early Head Start. Obviously, those
who were a part of the comparison group had no experiences and were not
asked about Early Head Start. Even among the program group (49.2% of the
sample), there were some who did not mention Early Head Start unless the
interviewer asked them directly about their involvement. The
interviewers asked fathers who were part of the program group how Early
Head Start had been helpful to them, rather than how they had
participated, so fathers tended to answer specifically about their views
of assistance they had received.
Three themes emerged from the qualitative analyses of fathers’
responses: (1) direct support and participation perceived by some
fathers; (2) indirect support perceived by some fathers; and (3) no
perception of support or need for involvement by some.
DIRECT SUPPORT FROM EARLY HEAD START AND PARTICIPATION
Support for involvement with child. Fathers talked about attending
meetings or
socialization
/so·cial·iza·tion/ () the process by which society integrates the individual and the individual learns to behave in socially acceptable ways.
n.
events, parenting education, home visits,
support groups, or child care. Some fathers described receiving helpful
information from Early Head Start. For example, one father said, “I
get ideas [about parenting] … guys at the Early Head Start,
they’ve given us some good ideas.” Another father said he had
benefited from child development information from the program. “I
didn’t have a clue about child development before; now I have a
better understanding of it, and I think as far as (child) being prepared
to use his brain, it’s beneficial.”
Participation in center programs seemed also to be helpful to
fathers through providing emotional supports to them when they needed
it. For example, one father said: “At the day-care I get a lot of
encouragement.” Another father said, “They’re always
willing to sit down and talk to you if you have a problem or something.
They are real open over there.” Still another father described the
emotional support he received from his home visitor:
One day I was having a really bad day, and I thought I was the only one who knew it, but she zoomed in, and we talked for about 45 minutes. That day we didn't actually do anything with [child] other than moving him around and playing with stuff. So she does what needs to be done.
Another father described how the socialization events (group
gatherings featuring parent-child activities) were helpful to him:
They have a carnival type deal where they have a bunch of different games set up.... I try to explain to [child] how to toss the beanbag or walk a certain way in the games.... I sit there and have that patience and the time to explain to her ... it's just one on one with her and me.
Support for employment or social assistance. A number of responses
to the question of how Early Head Start had been helpful focused on the
concrete help received through employment counseling, help with medical
care, nutrition, or other resources for the family. One father said,
There is a guy there (at Early Head Start), and sometimes I would run out of money, and he'd make sure that he'd stocked up on some Pampers for my children.... They always kept us informed so we could be involved with whatever we wanted to be involved with, and I think that was great.
In the same vein as concrete support, fathers responded to the
question about help or support they had received by talking about the
child care the program offered. As one father put it, “Day-care
does help out a lot sometimes, because you can’t always find
somebody to baby-sit. Plus when your finances are low, you can’t
afford to pay for baby-sitting. So it’s a big help.”
INDIRECT SUPPORT FROM EARLY HEAD START
Fathers responded to the question of how the Early Head Start had
helped them by helping their palmer or their child, which we labeled
“indirect support” to the father himself. For example, one
father described learning more about parenting from his partner: “I
think [wife's]
early intervention
n. Abbr. EI
A process of assessment and therapy provided to children, especially those younger than age 6, to facilitate normal cognitive and emotional development and to prevent developmental disability or delay.
training with Early Head Start
helped her a lot. It’s been a great benefit to us as parents.
She’s learned a lot from the program, and so I guess I
benefit.” Another father described the peace of mind he received as
a result of his child’s attending the Early Head Start Center:
“As far as a convenience of having a place to drop him off that I
can trust, that relieves my mind as a parent. It comforts me knowing
that he’s in good hands.”
Still other fathers, when asked how the program helped them, saw
the teaching and instruction their child received as a help to them in
fulfilling their role as a father. One Hispanic father, asked whether
Early Head Start helped him
fulfill
also ful·fil
tr.v. ful·filled, ful·fill·ing, ful·fills also ful·fils
1. To bring into actuality; effect:
2.
his role as a father, said, “I
think it helps me plenty … I noticed many things that [child] has
learned from the program.” This response was not
confined
v. con·fined, con·fin·ing, con·fines
v.tr.
1. To keep within bounds; restrict: See Synonyms at limit.
to
Hispanic fathers, however; one Caucasian father from a rural community,
when asked whether the program had been a help to him, responded,
“I believe it helped ]child] out with socialization. He got to
associate with other kids. He got to be with them and play and learn
things through them … and that was good for him.”
NON-INVOLVEMENT
A third theme, non-involvement, characterized responses to
questions about Early Head Start. A few of the interviews with
non-residential fathers described conflicts with the mother, so that
involvement with the child as well as the program was in
jeopardy
in law, condition of a person charged with a crime and thus in danger of punishment. At common law a defendant could be exposed to jeopardy for the same offense only once; exposing a person twice is known as
double jeopardy.
. For
other non-involved fathers from the 24-month interviews, the question
“How does Early Head Start help you as a father?” resulted in
short answers, such as “Not at all,” or “I don’t see
where it helps me.” Some fathers said that their work left them
with no time available to participate. Still others thought that the
program was intended mostly for mothers. For example, one stepfather
explained turning down participation in a home visit:
I've never been asked to participate. Well, I have, and I said no one time because I thought it was best for their relationship [home visitor and mother] because [wife] wasn't ready. She was really stressed out, and I figured it would be focused on themselves.
A father in a different program said he thought the program was not
for fathers: “I think [program] is more geared toward
mothers–they’re a great program–but they’re more geared
toward the mothers and health care of the children.”
In some interviews when fathers responded that they were not
involved in Early Head Start, the interviewers asked them for
recommendations concerning what the program could offer. In most of
these cases, fathers responded that they did not know of anything or
couldn’t think of anything “right off hand.” When probed,
some fathers said they didn’t think fathers in general would be
interested in some of the offerings mothers attended. For example,
“Most fathers I know go do stuff by themselves and leave the kids
with their mothers, so I don’t think [a father's day out]
would be helpful.”
DISCUSSION
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
A sample size of 575 respondents in a qualitative study is
unprecedented; thus, we learned many lessons about the limitations of
the design and about data management. As a qualitative study, this
research has its limitations in that it cannot provide an estimate of
the true prevalence of the various attitudes we encountered about
support needs and resources. Also, as a mixed design study, the
qualitative findings reported here are limited since there was little
opportunity for more intensive qualitative follow-up with some
respondents on specific issues they raised to get a more in-depth
understanding of their interpretations. Further, in most qualitative
studies the interviewers are also the analysts, and the process occurs
in an
iterative
adj.
1. Characterized by or involving repetition, recurrence, reiteration, or repetitiousness.
2. Grammar Frequentative.
Noun 1.
fashion, with the analysis of initial interviews
influencing revisions in subsequent protocols (Anfara et al., 2002). The
size and multi-site nature of this study precluded that approach, since
the interviewers in the field conducted both the qualitative and
quantitative interviews while the qualitative study team completed the
analyses. Finally, a limitation of this study is that the qualitative
analysts coded transcripts blindly, that is, without information about
the demographic characteristics of a given respondent. At the time this
seemed like a good idea to reduce potential bias in the coding. But our
ability to describe the specific demographic of a given respondent, as
in the quotes provided in this paper, is limited. Future studies of this
scope should include a cross-coding process to enable identification of
the characteristics of the respondents.
A further limitation arose from the fact that, as developmental
, our approach to interviewing parents in general was based
almost entirely on experiences in research with mothers. Even though
some members of the Early Head Start Father Study Work Group were men
and/or were experienced fatherhood researchers, we still encountered
some “surprises” in our approach to interviewing fathers (see
Summers & McLaughlin, 2002, for a more detailed discussion of this
point). For example, we were unprepared for the obvious challenge posed
to many respondents by our questions about support needs and resources.
As noted above, the fact that our interviewers and our analysts were not
the same people meant that a number of interviews were collected before
we were able to brainstorm with the data collection team and change our
approach to these questions. Still, as is often true of
qualitative
research
, this limitation is also a finding, as our “blind
spot” about different ways that men might perceive the issues about
support may well be shared by Early Head Start staff (see practice
implications, below).
IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND THEORY
Given these limitations, however, the study does provide us with
some insights into the ways that fathers interpret the question of
support and resources for help in parenting. Fathers may interpret the
word “support” and/or the need for support differently than
mothers. Many fathers responded to the question about supports they had
available by citing internal resources such as motivation or patience or
describing their own previous experience either with their parents or
with older children,
siblings
npl (formal) →
, or cousins. This corresponds to Doherty
et al.’s (1998) “father factors” component of their
responsible fathering
conceptual framework
.
The strong reactions of a minority of fathers to the mere
suggestion that they might need supports illustrates that, for some of
these men, asking for help or accepting help may be a mark of failure.
This finding is compatible with general research about gender
differences in help-seeking behavior. For example, men visit physicians
less often than women (Banks, 2001; Tudiver & Talbot, 1999) and less
often accept psychological counseling (Moeller-Leimkuehler, 2002) or
substance abuse treatment (Generali, 2002). Shek (1992) found in a
sample of Chinese men and women that men more often rely on internal
(reliance on self) while women more often seek help
from others. This finding would be compatible with comments from some of
the fathers in this study that the sources of supports for them were
their experiences, internal motivations, or personal traits.
Theorists propose that some men may have developed a social
construction of
masculinity
/mas·cu·lin·i·ty/ () virility; the possession of masculine qualities.
n.
1. The quality or condition of being masculine.
2.
that excludes getting help (Addis &
Mahalik, 2003; Mahalik, Good, & Englar-Carlson, 2003) and that
help-seeking is in conflict with some men’s understanding of their
role as males. In fact, African-American men with higher scores on a
measure of gender-role conflict were found to be less likely to have
positive help-seeking attitudes (White, 2002). Similarly, among
college-aged men those with higher gender-role strain were less tolerant
of the idea of seeking counseling (Bursley, 1996).
Social support theory draws a distinction between formal and
informal sources of support (Dunst et al., 1994). The findings of this
study suggest that the gender role strain and an avoidance of
help-seeking found by the researchers described above may apply
primarily to formal support systems. The many references to getting both
emotional and tangible help from the respondent’s spouse or
girlfriend supports the idea that mothers are pivotal in providing the
father with access to his child. Similarly, fathers described receiving
support in the form of concrete assistance, information (“tidbits
of wisdom”), and general encouragement from their own or their
spouse’s extended family. Fathers also interpreted the question
about “what helps” to include their own personal traits and
experiences as sources of knowledge and motivation to engage in their
fathering role. Especially powerful was the father’s relationship
with his own father, which appeared to serve either as a positive role
model or a negative example of what these respondents wanted to do (or
not do) with their children. All of these findings are consistent with
the conceptual model of responsible fathering proposed by Doherty et al.
(1998). The responsible fathering model, with its emphasis on contextual
or environmental influences, underscores the importance of the
father’s relationship with the mother and with his social support
network in combination with his own traits and experiences with his own
father, which Doherty and colleagues call the internal father factor.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
The reluctance of many men to seek help from formal supports
provides at least a partial explanation for lower levels of
participation reported in many Early Head Start programs (Raikes et al.,
2002). Programs wishing to attract more fathers will need to recognize
men’s sensitivity to the implication that they may need outside
support. Other terms such as “family
information sharing
” or
strategies such as
embedding
parenting information in social events and
emphasis on couple or whole-family events may be more acceptable.
Programs may also consider finding ways to recognize the internal
motivations and resources that men cite as supports for themselves.
The
aversion
n.
1. A fixed, intense dislike; repugnance, as of crowds.
2. A feeling of extreme repugnance accompanied by avoidance or rejection.
to seeking outside help also suggests that fathers may
be reluctant to accept anything that might be “interference”
in their family. A number of these respondents had strong beliefs about
their unwillingness to have someone else “come in and ramrod”
different ideas about parenting. This reaction suggests that sensitivity
to issues of cultural diversity and respect for family styles of
child-rearing-already an important
tenet
in Head Start–is doubly
important when interacting with fathers. Programs will need to look for
ways to demonstrate in a very visible way their respect for a
family’s autonomy and choice in making decisions about their
children.
Another finding from these interviews is that many fathers find
juggling jobs and fatherhood to be a challenge. This is not an
unfamiliar theme, either among men or women. Palkovitz (2002) found, in
a sample of 40 primarily middle-class fathers, that juggling
responsibilities of work/career and parenting was a subject of extensive
discussion by many of the fathers he interviewed. For the respondents in
this study who were from low-income backgrounds, many described working
long, physically demanding jobs, working more than one job, or working
evening shifts. These stresses add to the challenges of being able to
find the time to interact with their children, let alone find time to
seek help or participate in a parenting program. Programs will need to
address this barrier by finding more creative ways to involve fathers
(e.g., by providing reading materials or videos they might use any time)
or by having meetings at different times to accommodate different
schedules.
In addition, many fathers talked of getting advice or tangible
supports from other members of their family, especially the
father’s own parents. Fathers respected the perspectives of their
own parents because they appeared to have the ”
credential
verb To determine or verify titles, qualifications, documents, completion of required training, and continuing education, in those persons who function in a professional or official capacity–eg, ER physician, neurosurgeon, etc. Cf Credentials.
” of
having raised them; therefore they saw them as having the experience to
explain or interpret their child’s sometimes
puzzling
v. puz·zled, puz·zling, puz·zles
v.tr.
1. To baffle or confuse mentally by presenting or being a difficult problem or matter.
2.
behaviors.
The more tangible supports such as child care, gifts of food or
clothing, or outright loans of money were also mentioned. The fact that
these extended family members were “insiders” in the family
may have made their help more acceptable. Programs might consider ways
to involve fathers through involving grandparents–if they are engaged
in the program and advising the father to participate, fathers might
find participation in the program more acceptable.
In conclusion, many fathers in this study did report that they
benefited either directly or indirectly from Early Head Start. In
general, enhancing father participation in Early Head Start can be
further aided by a thorough understanding of how fathers interpret the
invitation to become involved. If the proposed activities are perceived
as an implication they are not effective fathers, or if supports are
perceived as “interference” in the family or a challenge to
the “rights” of fathers or parents to make decisions for their
families, then the chances are they will not participate. If, on the
other hand, the activities are presented in a
respectful
adj.
Showing or marked by proper respect.
re·spectful·ly adv.
manner that
assures fathers they are welcome and that makes a visible effort to
accommodate their needs, fathers may feel more welcome. This study also
suggests that programs might further enhance father involvement by (a)
developing programs that respect fathers’ competence and perhaps
even provide an opportunity for
reciprocity
in the giving and taking of
support; and (b) embedding support in the natural environment the father
already uses–such as participation with his wife/partner or including
grandparents.
Table 1 Characteristics of Fathers with Available Transcripts from 24-Month Interviews Characteristics Age at Time of Child's Birth (%) 15 to 19 Years 15.5 20 to 24 Years 30.8 25 to 29 Years 23.1 30 Years and Older 30.6 Age at Time of Child's Birth (M) 27.0 Race/Ethnicity (%) Hispanic 30.2 African American 24.8 White 42.4 Other 2.7 Relationship to Child and Residency Status (%) Biological Father 81.4 Resident Biological Father 65.9 Nonresident Biological Father 15.5 Resident Father Figure 15.0 Nonresident Father Figure 3.7 Married to Biological Mother 51.1 Educational Attainment (%) Less than 12 Years of School 37.2 High School Graduate/GED Recipient 34.6 College/Vocational School or More 28.2 Employment Average Number of Jobs in the Last Six Months 1.3 Average Income in Past Month (Dollars) 1406.4 Sample Size 540-575 * Note: Father interviews were conducted when children were approximately 24 months old. * Sample size varies by item due to missing data on the demographic interview protocol.
The findings reported here are based on research conducted as part
of the national Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project funded
by the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (
ACYF
), U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, under contract 105-95-1936 to
Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, NJ, and Columbia
University’s Center for Children and Families, Teachers College, in
conjunction with the Early Head Start Research Consortium. The
Consortium consists of representatives from 17 programs participating in
the evaluation, 15 local research teams, the evaluation contractors, and
ACYF. Research institutions in the consortium (and principal
researchers) include
Administration for Children and Families
(Rachel
Chazan-Cohen, Judith Jerald, Esther Kresh, Helen Ralkes, and Louisa
Tarullo);
Catholic University of America
at Washington, D.C.; the national university of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States; coeducational; founded 1887 and opened 1889.
(Michaela Farber, Lynn Milgram
Mayer, Harriet Liebow, Christine Sabatino, Nancy
Taylor, Elizabeth
1932–, Anglo-American film actress, b. London. Regarded as one of the world’s most beautiful women, Taylor went from child star to a series of ladylike roles to playing worldly, sometimes shrewish women.
Timberlake, and Shavaan Wall);
Columbia University
mainly in New York City; founded 1754 as King’s College by grant of King George II; first college in New York City, fifth oldest in the United States; one of the eight Ivy League institutions.
(Lisa Berlin,
Christy
n.
Variant of christie.
Brady-Smith, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, and Alison
Sidle
v. si·dled, si·dling, si·dles
v.intr.
1. To move sideways:
2.
Fuligni);
Harvard
University
mainly at Cambridge, Mass., including Harvard College, the oldest American college.
Harvard College
Harvard College, originally for men, was founded in 1636 with a grant from the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
(Catherine Ayoub, Barbara Alexander Pan, and
Catherine Snow
);
(Dee
Draper
n. Chiefly British
A dealer in cloth or clothing and dry goods.
[Middle English, weaver or seller of cloth, from Old French drapier, from drap, cloth; see
, Gayle Luze, Susan McBride, and
Carla
Peterson
); Mathematica Policy Research (Kimberly Boiler, Ellen Eliason
Kisker, John M. Love, Diane Panlsell, Christine Ross, Peter Schochet,
Cheri Vogel, and Welmoet van Kammen);
Medical University of South
Carolina
(Richard Faldowski, Gni-Young Hong, and Susan Picktel);
Michigan State University
at East Lansing; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1855. It opened in 1857 as Michigan Agricultural College, the first state agricultural college.
(Hiram Fitzgerald, Tom Reischl, and Rachel
Schiffman);
New York University
mainly in New York City; coeducational; chartered 1831, opened 1832 as the Univ. of the City of New York, renamed 1896. It comprises 13 schools and colleges, maintaining 4 main centers (including the Medical Center) in the city, as well as the
(Mark Spellmann and Catherine
Tamis-LeMonda);
University of Arkansas
, Mark Swanson,
and Leanne Whiteside-Mansell);
University of California, Los Angeles
(Carollee Howes and Claire Hamilton);
University of Colorado Health
Sciences Center
(Robert
Erode
, city (1991 urban agglomeration pop. 361,755), Tamil Nadu state, S India, on the Kaveri River. The city is located in a cotton-growing region, and its industries include cotton ginning and the manufacture of transport equipment.
, Jon Korfmacher, JoAnn Robinson,
Paul
Spicer
, and Norman Watt);
University of Kansas
(Jane Atwater, Judith
Carta, and Jean
Ann Summers
); University of Missouri-Columbia (Mark
Fine, Jean Ispa, and Kathy Thomburg); University of Pittsburgh (
Beth
Green
, and
Robert McCall
); University of
Washington
School
of Education (Eduardo Armijo and Joseph Stowitschek); University
of Washington School of Nursing (Kathryn Barnard and Susan Spieker), and
Utah State University
mainly at Logan; coeducational; land-grant and state supported; chartered 1888, opened 1890. It publishes Utah Science, Western Historical Quarterly, and Western American Literary Journal.
(Lisa Boyce and Lori Roggman). The authors wish to
thank the consortium reviewers who commented on earlier drafts of this
article under the
guidelines
n.pl a set of standards, criteria, or specifications to be used or followed in the performance of certain tasks.
of the Early Head Start Research Consortium
publications polices. The authors express appreciation for the
involvement of the children, families, and staff and the Early Head
Start program directors from the research sites for their dedication to
the national study. The content of this publication does not necessarily
reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human
Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or
organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
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JEAN ANN SUMMERS
Universtiy of Kansas
HELEN RAIKES
Society for Research in Child Development, Consultant
Administration for Children and Families
KIMBERLY BOLLER
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jean
Ann Summers,
Juniper
any tree or shrub of the genus Juniperus, aromatic evergreens of the family Cupressaceae (cypress family), widely distributed over the north temperate zone. Many are valuable as a source of lumber and oil.
Gardens Chidlren’s Project, University of
Kansas, 650 Minnesota,
Kansas City, Kansas
66101. Electronic mail:
jsummers@ku.edu.
